The Elusive Prince
by The Purple Critic
Summary: Harry Potter, a different take on an old story. Lily's spell did a little more than protect the young infant, it stole every ounce of power the dark lord had. Now with all that power, one can only wonder, what's the worst that could happen?
1. Chapter 1

A/N I don't own any of this except for my general ideas, based off an concept in the story "A wizard's magic"

* * *

As all stories tend to start, ours will begin with "once upon a time…" a tad bit cliché? Many may think so, but with a story about to emerge, it is the general opinion that nobody cares.

In Britain there once was a man named Tom Riddle, Tom didn't have a happy childhood and did all he could to make it better. He tried to make friends however he could; he tried to excel at school and help his peers, he tried to be helpful and supportive. No matter how many different things Tom tried, he was unable to fit in with this peers. There was something special about Tom however, Tom was magical; wizards were about as magical as one could get, and he was one of them.

As Tom grew up, he slowly gave up hope that he would fit in and decided to find friends in solitude. He began to experiment on his own, away from restrictions and away from supervision. By himself he found many things; many marvelous things were discovered, some good, many bad.

At the school that Tom went to, there was a man in charge. The man in charge was Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore himself was the one to bring Tom to the school. It was Dumbledore that kept an eye on Tom and when Tom began to conduct some more questionable experiments, Dumbledore took it upon himself to stop Tom.

As grateful as Tom was to Dumbledore for showing him the wonders of magic, Tom didn't want to stop. Dumbledore resorted to more drastic measures and Tom snapped.

Thus the creation of Lord Voldemort was enabled.

* * *

It was a dark and stormy night in Godric's hollow as everyone was tense. Sirius had just departed by call from Dumbledore on a possible Death Eater's meeting. The only ones left in the house were Lily and James Potter along with their few month old son, Harry.

Lily was in the living room with James while their son slept in his room on the upper floor.

"When was the last time we were all together?" asked lily as she thought to the Marauder's. With the war at hand, it had been many moths since they were all together in one room. Remus and Sirius had always been off on a mission and the last time anyone heard anything from Peter was weeks ago.

"Feels like years" commented James, as he warily looked out the window.

Outside the window thunder struck and on a flat horizon, suddenly a figure appeared.

"Lily, grab Harry and run, the wards will hold him off for a few moments!" James shouted as he began to chant and activate the security wards in place.

Lily acted immediately and ran upstairs to their son. Now under normal circumstances they would be able to all portkey as a group out of the building; but due to wards that made it impossible to portkey in, it acted the same way towards outgoing portkeys.

A simple precaution made to protect them all seemed to be the simple reason they would all die.

Lily turned to her son as she heard James yell, "The wards have been breached! I'll hold him off for as long as I can!" Turning to Harry, she spoke her last few words.

"Harry, even though you can't understand us, know that we love you and always will." As she said this, tears were dropping and last thoughts and regrets were flowing through her head.

Beginning the chant for a spell of sacrifice that Dumbledore had shown her she had realized that there were ways to improve it.

Lily had been among the top percentage of her class and had always kept a stable mind regardless of how hectic a situation may seem. Charms was a subject she had excelled in and held a mastery at. Seeing a spell that seemed half finished, she was unable to drop the final challenge she would ever get.

Switching a few fragments and adding a few words, Lily was able to change the spell, though just by a bit.

Finishing her chant, she heard a voice behind her. "Saying goodbye are you?" smirked Voldemort as he lazily threw a curse at her.

Avada Kedavra, are the two words that make up the killing curse. The killing curse is green in nature and easy to recognize. It was a variation of a regular spell made to easily kill livestock. The alterations made it stronger and required a killing intent behind the spell. The spell was made to sever the connection between the body and soul.

It was the same curse that he threw at Lily, and it was the same curse that she saw before she died.

With this, Voldemort turned to Harry.

"What a long and enjoyable life you may have had, it's a shame that it's about to be cut short." He said, as he chatted away while pacing back and forth.

"I suppose all good things must end," and with the final statement, he threw the killing curse at Harry. What he didn't expect to happen was for the curse to rebound as if a mosquito, slowly sucking him dry of all his magic essence and a grand explosion occurred with them at the center.

Fading to dust, Voldemort disappeared, shortly after two figures appeared in the wake of destruction.

* * *

The two figures looked at each other for a moment before turning to the scene.

"Quite the fiasco," commented Dumbledore as he turned to Minerva. Surveying the scene, they found Harry at the epicenter. As they walked over to him, they found him sitting in his cradle blinking up at them without a care in the world.

Surveying the scene, the destruction was forever imprinted into his mind as Dumbledore bent down to pick up the silent child.

"So what is to become of him?" asked Minerva as she looked around, finding interest in a cracked picture frame.

Albus Dumbledore had made several hard decisions in his lifetime; however, in this instance he was clueless on what action he should take. On one hand if he was to read the will of James and Lily, then Harry would most likely go to a magical family and would grow up spoiled in a life of fame and in constant danger from any remaining death eaters. While if he sent them to a muggle family, he would not be able to keep a constant eye on Harry and Harry would not gain the basics that most magical children learned from their parents.

A sudden tugging interrupted him from his thoughts as Harry began pulling on his beard while giggling softly.

"I believe he has taken a liking to you, Albus" commented Minerva as she watched the scene with amusement.

A sudden thought struck Dumbledore at that moment.

"I believe you are right Minerva, he will stay with us at Hogwarts" he stated while chuckling about the possible outcomes.

Minerva was dumbstruck at the thought of a child being raised by the Hogwarts staff. Most of the professors were experienced with handling children, however, the children they were used to dealing with were a great deal older than little Harry. Outside one or two of the professors, none of them had ever even had children before.

"Surely you can't be serious!" exclaimed Minerva as she looked back and forth between Albus and Harry.

"Of course I am, and don't call me Shirley" chuckled Albus, the whole ordeal seemed to be a joke to him from the public eye.

"I am going to announce the fall of Voldemort now, with all the deaths as of recent, the people need something to rejoice about" and with that statement, he began to walk away from the wreckage when something out of the ordinary happened.

While walking away from the wreckage Harry had noticed his favorite toy missing. While it wouldn't matter to most children who had suffered something similarly dramatic, to Harry the toy was one of the last few things that gave him a connection to his parents.

As Albus was walking, a toy from the wreckage seemed to fly at him and right into the arms of a patiently waiting Harry.

This action led to a sudden pause in… well everything.

"Did you just see that?" Minerva asked Albus as she rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Most children have accident bouts of magic; however the magic normally started around the same time an average magic core would begin to develop, and for Harry that wouldn't occur for another few years.

"I'm not quite sure what I saw," replied Dumbledore, before he pulled the toy away from Harry and threw it lightly into the air. As if expected, the toy floated gently down back to Harry.

"I'm beginning to think that the magic is more intentional than it is accidental," commented Dumbledore as he repeated the action several times to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

In the head of the old professor, many things could be mentioned, but at that time the only thing flying through his head was possible explanations for the most unsettling surprise. The only believable explanations that he could come up with were either that Lily or James infused their power to Harry before dying, or that somehow the killing curse acted as a funnel when it rebounded and transferred all of Voldemort's powers to Harry.

Either way, the results would be most unsettling. The power could easily go out of control and overwhelm Harry or he may cause accidental harm to someone if he were to go on a tantrum.

"Another reason for him to come with us, is it not?" said Dumbledore rhetorically as he smiled to Minerva. Any doubt on the future residence of Harry was squashed at that moment.

* * *

The magical world of Britain lost its gloom as the news of the dark lord was spread. Shops were reopening and people were walking back onto the streets. What was empty only hours ago were now full and lively.

Hogwarts was a different story however. While school was not in session, the staff was gathered inside the headmaster's office.

"Could you repeat that again?" asked Professor Vector in speculation mirroring the concern in all of the other professor's faces.

"You heard me correctly the first time, Harry will now be a resident of Hogwarts until further notice," stated Dumbledore in a tone of finality.

"Who is going to watch… that thing?" asked Snape in a tone of obvious disgust. For Harry represented the death of many people. Harry being alive meant that the dark lord was dead along with Lily. Lily as a childhood friend had meant more to Snape than anyone else alive. She had been the closest human connection he had ever bothered to establish, after marrying James however things had died off to a few letters back and forth and for some reason he had never bothered with any other relationships.

"A team effort will be required if we are to get anything done," announced Minerva as the other staff chuckled nervously.

"Watching over a child will give you a sense of experience Snape. Keep in mind that she lives on inside him, and do not let her sacrifice be in vain," commented Dumbledore as he ignored the staff's questioning glares.

"I suppose I can make an effort in memory of _her_," replied Snape before walking out of the office with his cloak bellowing out behind him.

"He'll warm up eventually," mused Dumbledore as he turned to his staff. "So who's first?"

* * *

Sitting in Minerva's office Harry just sat there watching her with wide eyes while occasionally making some small noises.

Minerva had been the first to take care of Harry because she had been the obvious choice at the time. Snape had just come to terms with the fact that he would be taking care of a child in the near future and Professor Vector, Professor Sprout, Pomfrey, and Professor Flitwick all had matters to attend to outside of school. Of course Filch and Trelawney were both out of the question because of what Harry might pick up from them.

With no one else available, Harry had joined Minerva while she was grading papers for the summer. Minerva was never one for the theoretical part of studies but more for the practical portions, so instead of a final test, she had a final assignment where the student would demonstrate the extent of their transfiguration knowledge.

The students were given a small pebble and were asked to transfigure it into the grandest thing they could handle. Things that contained metal received for credit than transfigurations that were made entirely of wood or other things similar.

To sum things up, Minerva was sitting in her office filled to an unprecedented proportion with useless knick knacks with and uncountable number of flaws. Things ranged from grandfather clocks to silver spoons all the way to wooden bird houses. The assignments were easy enough to recognize due to the magical signature the caster left behind.

She would grade them by inspecting their current form for all flaws before canceling the transfiguration to make sure it was the original object she had given them.

Harry had taken notice of what she was doing and found sudden interest.

"Enjoying the show are you?" smiled the professor as she continued to grade a few more assignments, dispelling things left and right.

Delighted with what he was seeing, Harry began clapping his hands and laughing loudly.

This produced mixed results.

As Harry clapped, every clap he made with his hands dispelled another objects, Minerva just stood in shock before grabbing Harry's hands and stopping his clapping.

With Harry in her arms and still laughing joyfully she looked around at the half empty room and looked down back at Harry.

"What am I going to do with you?" she laughed as she thought of all of the upset student that wouldn't receive a grade.

* * *

After Minerva's turn, Snape had been the only adult left in the building that was available to watch Harry. While Snape had been hesitant at first, when Minerva passed Harry off to him, he accepted him without a word.

In the dungeons, Snape was preparing potions for future use should anyone in the castle be in need. Harry was just sitting on a table a distance away from the cauldron to avoid any accidents.

"Mandrake root, poppy seeds, cat whiskers…" potions ingredients spilled out of Snape's mouth as if a mantra to remember all of the separate things that go into the potion.

Professor Snape was somewhat of a potions prodigy, while not a big name due to his ex-death eater status, he had several books published on brewing techniques along with advanced potion guides for substituting and theory crafting potions. He was one of the youngest people ever to receive a potion's mastery along with one of the few people to ever receive an award for an original creation.

As Snape was throwing ingredients in with measured precision, he felt a tugging on his robe on the left side and paused. Looking down he saw Harry on the ground having apparently apparated tugging on his robe.

Shaking off the shock of the possibility of a toddler apparating he went back to adding potion ingredients.

As he was attempting to add the ingredient again, the tugging resumed.

"Is there something you want?" asked Snape, almost as if he was expecting the toddler to reply.

Harry didn't say a word, but pointed at a vial near the wall instead.

"What is this?" out of curiosity, Snape looked over to the wall and found the vial labeled as _Snake's tear _now at this point, this had Snape wondering.

Looking over at the potion he was working on he realized that the vial Harry had pointed at would be a much strong catalyst than the one he was about to add.

"A little potions prodigy are you?" said Snape in a dry voice with a hint of humor to it. One simply doesn't obtain a mastery in their respective subject though without general curiosity.

Snape's curiosity was center in solid results, and due to this he had to figure out if Harry could actually feel a potion's composition or if it was just a fluke.

Placing Harry on a Table, Snape began preparing a potion and left it half finished, then placed all of the necessary ingredients along with some vials of odd things in the mix, he then let harry go.

The potion he had left unfinished was a variation of a calming draught, not wanting to expose Harry to anything that might be harmful he allowed the toddler free reign.

What he didn't expect though was for Harry to levitate the majority of the supplies and throw it all into the cauldron.

Quickly using a summoning charm, he summoned Harry to him and took cover behind a desk as if expecting the potion to explode.

Cautiously peeking out, he looked over the cauldron to see a translucent potion. The average calming draught was a silvery grey and there were many variations of the draught that could be judged from color to determine the effect. The strongest draught anyone had ever managed to make was a opaque white variation that could double as a sedative.

The potion Harry had thrown together was clear.

Snape turned back to look at the toddler behind the table. Harry was sitting quietly while pointing at the potion as if expecting something.

"I dearly hope you don't expect me to drink that," said Snape in a calm controlled voice.

At this point, Harry began wailing, at first a slow quiet whimper, then erupting into a full out tantrum. The potions master was at wit's end trying to figure out what to do, while he could simply use a silencing charm, he doubted that it would be a permanent solution. On the other hand he could drink the possibly life threatening potion.

Looking at his options, he inspected the potion and rationalized to himself. "_The ingredients were none of the deathly type and in combination I can speculate that it won't have any permanent harmful effects, the worse that could happen would be a severe case of vomiting_"

Pouring some of the potion into a flask, Harry stopped crying. Snape looked suspiciously at the potion before looking back at Harry.

The toddler just pointed at the potion again.

"Here goes nothing," said Snape as he drank the potion with gusto.

Harry's laughter was the last recognizable thing he would remember that night.

Snape's euphoric experience would be remembered for many years to come among the staff. Apparently Harry's potion had induced a sense of high similar to the experiences of drug uses in the 1960's.

Since then Snape had been using Harry as a detector for potion ingredients that would increase the strength of a potion.

While Harry's persistence and crying had been a major issue that Snape abhorred, he began to realize how much of an impact the toddler had on him and found it hard to imagine brewing without the toddler.

Snape hadn't been the only professor to find that Harry had interest in their respective subject. When Professor Flitwick had returned from his business he had been tasked with watching Harry for the afternoon.

Not one to leave something half done, Flitwick set out to make the afternoon enjoyable for Harry. The small professor had been levitating hundreds of objects around Harry for his enjoyment. While Harry and been laughing uncontrollable and undoubtly having a good time, the highlight of the evening was when Harry levitated the professor himself.

Filius had been caught so unaware and by surprise, all he could do was laugh himself as he was levitated around the room next to all of the objects flying around under his control.

Accidental magic seemed to be the theme when dealing with the young prodigy. Filius had been informed by Minerva of his accidental bouts of magic before taking charge of Harry.

While most wizards would have been shocked and amazed by the magic the occurred as a result f the young boy, the Hogwarts staff took it in stride. Under their tutelage Harry would grow up into a fine man that would leave his imprint in history and of course, all the professors wanted a hand in that, even the reluctant potions master.

The only time his accidental magic wasn't warmly welcomed was during his diaper years. The professors would always be shocked when they opened the diapers because they would never know what was in it.

An incident that occurred was one day Harry had seemingly transfigured his waste into a golden egg, and another incident when a ball of feces exploded.

Many precautions were taken by the fearful professors from that point on.

Harry's early years were enjoyable to all, but as all good things; everything has to come to an end.

* * *

I saw a story with lots of potential left alone, so I did my variation of it.

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, but I hope everyone enjoys it.

I find spaced formats easy to read, but if anyone has specific formats they would like to request, do tell and I will see what I can do. I just find big stories with block texts hard to keep up with.

Pairings to be discovered later, I have a basic idea of what I want to happen and there isn't much that's going to dissuade me.

-The Purple Critic


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: A little redundant, but I don't own this story etc.

* * *

As Harry's toddler years ended, the Hogwarts staff began finding more interest in his education. While most of the staff took a subtle approach towards teaching him their respective subjects, other professors were more upfront and abrasive in their ways.

Professor Vector, and Professor Flitwick had both devised many games that involved basic spells for Harry to play, with the incentive of playing a game, he learned quickly and was able to pick up the subjects quite well. While Harry had been unable to use a wand due to his age, the professors quickly found that he didn't require a wand and that wandless magic was a simple concept for him.

Dumbledore had always pondered the idea of wandless magic and why it had come easier to Harry that it did the majority of the wizarding world and came up with a simple conclusion, Harry was different.

Unable to come up with any other solution, Dumbledore found that Harry, being blessed with so much magic at a young age, was more attune to it than anyone else. When Snape had told him about the young boy's affinity towards potions, Dumbledore and Snape were both able to fill in the missing links and found that Harry wasn't actually aware of what was happening when he combined the ingredients, however, he was aware of what "_felt"_ right and what had not.

Minerva had taken up the responsibility of teaching Harry the basics of life such as reading, writing, and grammar. By the age of 8, Harry was able to speak and converse with anyone, regardless of age. Along with basic grammar, Professor McGonald had also taken the liberty of teaching Harry foreign languages. While not as good English, Harry was able to communicate in 5 different languages with the exception of only being able to read and write Latin.

Due to Harry's exposure to the young professor, he began calling her mom.

Minerva was shocked at first, she slowly began to realize that because Lily was missing from Harry's life, she was the closest thing that Harry had ever had to a mother. She disciplined him and raised him just as any other mother would. It would only be natural that Harry had developed such a bond with her.

While Minerva had been teaching Harry the basics of life and some rudimentary transfiguration concepts, the other professors had also been giving Harry their fair share of education.

Severus had been able to get Harry to memorize potion ingredients and how they would affect potions via flash cards. While this hadn't been the first method Severus used to attempt to teach Harry, it seemed to be the most effective with Harry's fondness towards the bright colored pictures.

Professor Vector was the teacher for arithmancy and also ancient runes. The only reason she was able to cover both subjects was because of the small number of students that actually partook in the subjects, this was due to the high level of requirement and also the age requirement being only fourth year and up.

Unable to go into anything serious, Septima taught harry the basics of mathematical equations and ancient runes with clever puzzles and fun coloring pictures. She was able to devise a problem out to where the solution to the puzzle created, was also the answer to the problem. With the ancient runes, she simply drew out the rune and placed the name above the rune and gave Harry some coloring utensils, hoping that he would be able to memorize it that way.

Her method seemed to work as the information she tried to convey to him had apparently been retained when she one day left some practice problems out that she had been planning to assign to her afternoon classes.

She had left her office for a few minutes and came back to find Harry working through the problems at a slow, albeit steady pace. Checking over the work she found minor errors and was surprised that Harry had grasped the basic concept.

Professor Flitwick had an interesting way of teaching Harry his respective subject. While unable to truly start teaching Harry charms, he simply performed the spells he wanted Harry to do. Then Harry would normally attempt to copy him, similar to the day he had first taken care of him.

With the crude, but effective method, Harry was able to do all the charms spells up through third year. The only difference was Harry didn't know the incantations, nor did it seem that he ever had the need to.

While those four professors had made up the bulk of his early education, Poppy Pomfrey had been able to Harry basic first aid for wizards after having had a broom accident. With fear that Harry would one day hurt himself, Poppy had all but crammed the information into Harry's head.

Professor Sprout had also taught Harry about some of the plants in the Hogwarts greenhouse, she would take him on walks through the structure and point out some odd plants along the way and tell him their uses and basic information about them.

While some people might find this boring, Harry had found genuine interest in everything he was being taught. Harry had what seemed, a knack for learning. He would be able to absorb most of the information fed to him and seemed to enjoy learning anything new, whether it be an odd fact about something irrelevant or something essential to growing up.

* * *

By the age of 10, Harry had all the information needed to skip straight to the fourth year of Hogwarts schooling. While Harry had been offered to continue private tutoring, he turned it down in favor of attending Hogwarts with the rest of the children his age.

"Harry, with special attention, you'd be able to become one of the most known and renown wizards around the world," explained Dumbledore in attempt to dissuade the young boy.

While Harry and loved all of his caretakers dearly, he had to decline the offer.

"But grandpa Dumple, if I keep only talking to only grown-ups, how am I supposed to make friends with other kids?"

Harry's statement had apparently struck a chord with the old professor. One of Dumbledore's main concerns for Harry had been that he would grow up with a childhood. While deciding what to do with him at an early age, he had come to the conclusion that Harry was too powerful to be left unsupervised. However, if he had constant contact with adults, it would be hard for him to fit in with other children his age.

"I suppose you're right Harry, but if you decided to follow this path, you know that we'll be unable to treat you the same as we normally do; and you'll have to call us by our titles in order to eliminate any apparent favoritism."

While Harry had been overjoyed at the strangely quick acceptance, he was a little regretful of not being able to address his adopted family as he normally would.

Growing up, Harry had devised titles for everyone in the castle. While he had called Minerva, "mom" and Dumbledore, "Grandpa Dumple" he had mostly added aunt or uncle to the rest of the staff. Professor Flitwick had a good chuckle when he had first hear Harry call him Uncle Filius.

"I understand Grandpa, but does this mean I get to ride the Hogwarts Express?" asked Harry with starry eyes.

"Why I don't see a reason you can't," replied Dumbledore before excusing himself to retire for the night.

While Dumbledore had gone to bed easily that night, Harry was unable to contain his excitement. In a little over a year, he would experience his first year at Hogwarts, and his first year in constant contact with people his age.

While Harry didn't live an isolated life, he hadn't been around people his age often. The only times he had been around others his age was when he had been able to meet with some of the children of the parents that had been having a conference with one of the professors.

While Harry had fun, none of the children he met had ever had a lasting impression on him. Unable to make any stable friends his age, he was placing all his hope on attending Hogwarts.

Leaving the headmaster's office, Harry returned to his room.

Due to the professors being occupied with students during the school year, Harry had been given a room in the guest quarters. Without guests often staying overnight at the castle, the quarter had multiple rooms that were hardly used. With only dust gathering, Dumbledore had found it appropriate to have a house elf clean out one of the room and use it as a place of residence for the young boy.

Caring to Harry's essential needs however had not been the only thing Dumbledore had done in Harry's life as of late. Dumbledore had taken it upon himself to teach Harry the basics of dueling and combat before thinking about relinquishing him to the resident dueling master Professor Flitwick.

_**Flashback **_

"_Harry, what do you think is a dueler's most treasure possession?" _

"_It could be their wand, or their knowledge of spells." _

"_Good try Harry, but it's their control over their emotions that they treasure the most," with this statement, Harry began to look confused. _

_Dumbledore simply looked at the quizzical young lad and laughed. "Duelists treasure their control over the emotion because it eliminates what is not necessary. While most people believe that large repertoires of spells coupled with absurd levels of magic are the core to dueling, it's hardly true, in fact those are only minor details. A duelist with more skill will almost always triumph over a lesser duelist regardless of who has more raw magic. " _

"_What emotions aren't necessary? I thought you needed all of them" supplied the young boy. _

"_Harry have you ever messed up any spell? If so, can you remember what you were feeling when you messed up?" _

_This statement got Harry to think. While in the past he had been able to grasp most of the spell that had been showed to him, there were indeed a few spells that Harry had been unable to achieve regardless of the time he put into the spell. _

_Thinking back to an earlier attempt on a shielding charm, he could only remember feeling nervous about being targeted for the first time. _

"_I felt anxious, nervous, scared, and angry all at the same time," Harry explained. _

"_Ah, you understand then, while all of these emotions are important for everyday life, in dueling there is no place for them. A duelist is able to perform at his or her absolute best when she is without anger or anxiety. To be able to function at maximum performance, one must remain collected and be able to think out actions beforehand." _

_Throughout Dumbledore's explanation all Harry could relate was how Professor Flitwick had always been enjoyable to be around but turned out to be a world class duelist. _

"_So you want me to remain… elusive?" asked Harry for clarification, for a better understand. _

"_Elusive… I suppose that would work, the main goal you are hoping to achieve is to not let your opponent be able to feel your intentions. While you can be laughing while dueling and they wouldn't be able to sense a thing, it's the complete opposite when you're feeling anger. You opponent can take advantage of that and cause you to act recklessly and often cause you to lose the duel." _

"_Has this ever happened to you?" asked Harry. _

"_It happens to everyone at some point, even the best of us," explained Dumbledore while thinking of the resident duelist. "Everyone has their moments when they are unable to control themselves, the best included. Not everyone is able to pick up dueling right away, it takes practice and years of determination to be able to call oneself a master at the art, everyone had to start somewhere." _

_**End Flashback **_

After their discussion Dumbledore had begun Harry's dueling instruction. He was able to teach Harry a few stunning charms and a couple disarment charms as well. Against Minerva's will he had also taught Harry a few cutting charms, but nothing remotely close to what Aurors were using.

As of present, due to Dumbledore's training, Harry was able to hold his own in a duel against anyone up to third year and was steadily rising in skill level as he took weekly lessons.

* * *

While these lessons had been relieving to the Headmaster, it had been hard for him to actually shoot any spell towards Harry. By ensuring Harry was able to protect himself, it gave the professor a safe sense of mind and allowed Harry more freedom due to it.

Shortly after the dueling lessons started, another incident occurred with advanced spellcasting. While studying with Minerva one day, Harry began to question how the Professor was able to change into a cat and back.

"It's a type of advanced transfiguration that turns you into an animal," explained Minerva. "By doing the process, you are registered as an animagus and have the freedom of changing whenever you please."

Following Minerva's explanation, she began to shift into her cat form to demonstrate for Harry on a more educational level instead of the passing glimpse he saw whenever he managed to notice that she was actually shifting.

Watching his mother figure change to a cat made him wish he was able to do the same. Harry often has thoughts about being able to change into a cat and following the tabby around.

"What's it like changing into a cat?" asked Harry after Minerva had shifted back.

Taking a moment to ponder the question, Minerva found it strange that Harry would ask a question. In thought, she had never heard of anyone ever asking a question like that before. People would often ask why they chose their given forms and questions similar to that, but never had anyone question the experience of changing.

"I suppose it feels like you're immersing yourself with a cocoon of magic imbued with instincts from your animal form."

"So you just cover yourself with cat magic?" deadpanned Harry.

Harry's comment brought out a bout of laughter from the professor. "When you put it that way, I suppose that sums up the gist of it."

Suddenly Harry had a bout of inspiration, with a concentrated look on his face; he began to channel his magic.

Minerva was busy attending to some papers when she noticed what Harry was doing. Having been accustomed to Harry attempting anything he saw, she did nothing to dissuade him from trying what he was, but simply sat back and watched him attempt it.

Within Harry's head, he had an ongoing mantra along the lines of "Cat, Cat, Cat," repeating over and over in his head as he channeled his magic throughout his body. By the time he had covered his entire body with magic, the only conscious thought he had was "Cat".

Minerva was needless to say shocked, while Harry was channeling magic; she realized that he was channeling enough magic for it to actually become visible on the light spectrum.

With a short burst of light, in Harry's place stood a black kitten in all its glory, the entire time this had been happening, Minerva had been rationalizing what was happening. All she could establish that it was possible with the amount of magic Harry had been channeling, to skip the steps of establishing a connection with the inner self and simply forcing the change.

While Minerva was lost in her own thoughts, Harry was panicking. While he had been able to change into a cat, he had no idea of possible clue on how to change back. While panicking, he began running back and forth before he finally hit a wall and ended up sprawled on the ground.

Finally noticing what had happened, Minerva began to coach him back.

"Harry just clam down and listen to me, just imagine what you look like as a human, and will yourself to look like that. Magic is 90% intent, and 10% power," explained the professor.

Listening to her advice, Harry began to picture himself with his unruly black hair and scar. Finding something deep inside, something different from the raw instinct he was currently feeling.

At that moment he came to a conclusion, to change to a cat he had to think as if a cat did. So in theory to change back into a human form he would have to block out what he would feel as a cat and only accept what he believed to be human emotions.

After several attempts and shifting halfway between forms he was finally able to pull off a complete reversal.

"That was… intense," croaked out Harry, as he stumbled into a nearby chair.

"I'd imagine so, with anyone else, I don't think that would be a possible feat," commented Minerva as she inspected her adopted son.

While she was used to being surprise as Harry was able to do amazing feats of magic, a animagus transformation seemed a little too much even for him. Animagi are normally transfiguration masters that learn their art for years before being able to refine it to a point of almost unconscious casting when the desire strikes.

While Harry was able to pull off the change, it seemed nothing more than a bastardized version of the real thing. What she said about intent was true, and magic is mostly about what the user wants to happen. With that in mind, she was able to theorize that Harry had desired to change to an animal to such an extent that his magic listened to him and bypassed all the regular steps necessary to become an animagus.

"Harry, what you did was an amazing feat, but incredibly risky and unrefined," started Minerva. "I know better than to tell you not to do something, but please only practice when supervised by another professor or myself."

"Yes mom," bemoaned Harry over the overbearing that was occurring. It was in his opinion that if something had been done once, then it could be repeated as much as someone desired. Meaning that to him, being able to do the animagus transformation once meant that he could repeat it without error.

While without error was a flawless thing he had always achieved, though it was not always without effort. An incident a while back included nearing setting his magical core ablaze as he tried to replicate a shielding charm that was far above this level. While he accomplished the task, Professor Flitwick made him swear an oath not to attempt to do something similar before he was ready.

* * *

After a few more weeks of continuous practice of his animagus transformation, he was finally able to switch between the forms with little to no error. The only trouble he currently faced was suppressing the feline instincts once he assumed the form

For regular animagi, their forms have their respected instincts, but they're only as strong as the raw magic used in the transformation.

While in Harry's case, he had the raw magic needed to support the transformation with plenty left over fueling the instincts far beyond what he was currently able to control. Whenever he changed, it was similar to a dam breaking and allowing water to flow freely.

While this problem was concerning for Minerva, Harry found no problem leaving his inner feline to run wild. He thoroughly enjoyed being a cat and had no problems as long as he retained a sense of self and remembered to change back at some point.

Shortly after getting a grasp of the change, Harry could always been seen in his cat form at some point during the day. It was not uncommon to not see his human face at all on some days. While this troubled some of the professors, Dumbledore simply waved it off and told them that the child mind simply enjoys exploration and that living in the mindset of an animal with raw instincts presents a puzzle that would ensnare and draw some people in.

As time went on, Harry began to notice that the instincts he felt when he was a cat never completely left him. He found morbid curiosity developing at a faster rate than it normally would. Along with his curiosity, he found himself often keeping balance when he should not have. It seemed that his reflexes had also been kept when changing back.

The reflexes he felt when changing back into a human felt more sluggish than before the change but to onlookers or observers they would notice he moving swifter with less movements, graceful would be a word that some could use to describe it. It was almost as if every move was planned ahead and not a single movement was wasted. This was very similar to what Minerva had gone through at a younger age, but had degenerated over time according to her.

Harry continued to refine and train daily with his teacher along with a few outings such as Diagon Alley to buy his supplies for the upcoming year. Before anyone had really noticed, the long awaited time had come and school was only but a few days away.

* * *

A/N:

I felt the need to try and put out weekly updates that are actually somewhat pleasing in length, I'm not quite sure how some authors put out chapters in the 10k's I end up losing focus of what's currently happening if I work on it on separate occasions.

I'm not really happy with how I ended this chapter.

A few readers have discussed their views on how Harry shouldn't be "Overpowered", and I whole heartily agree. Though the main idea of the story is Harry absorbed Voldemort's power while Voldemort was in his prime. What I'm doing right now is balancing Harry on a fine line in which he is portrayed as with Raw undeveloped talent. A good analogy would be trying to take out a target at 1000 meters and Harry is an RPG while Dumbledore is a Sniper rifle. No doubt about which one would cause more destruction, but it's quite obvious which of the two would be more effective for the task.

My goal is to put out a 100k word story with hopefully 1000ish reviews by the end of it. If the rate I have right now keeps up, this doesn't seem so far away.

-The Purple Critic


	3. Chapter 3

A/N

I don't own Harry potter, original idea credited to the story "A wizard's magic"

On another note though, is this required for every chapter? or can I put put it in the first one and it can apply to all the chapters after that?

* * *

The long awaited day had finally arrived and Harry found himself at King's Cross train station along with professor McGonagall. They had left early in the morning after organizing the supplies they had bought the day before in his room. While it was Harry's choice to ride the Hogwarts express, he had felt no need to bring the entire luggage; just to be brought back to where it originally was.

"Now Harry, are you sure you want to do this? The Hogwarts express isn't the exciting part that most of the first years remember; it tends to be the boat ride up to the castle that most remember. We can just skip this part and come back when the boats are about to depart," advised Minerva as she turned to do her motherly last minute checks on Harry.

Brushing the overbearing woman off, Harry said, "Mom, it's fine, this way I'll be able to meet a few people my own age. I can do the boat ride in front of the castle any time Uncle Hagrid is free. The only thing I wish was that we weren't so early."

And sure enough, the entire platform was empty except for a few train guides for the muggleborn and crewmembers of the express on their break before the trip.

"I'm sorry Harry, everyone is busy getting ready for the ceremony for the first years and I have to get back soon as possible to begin my own preparations, so I can't stick around for long."

Acknowledging her need to leave, Harry bid Minerva goodbye with a hug and a kiss and a promise to see her soon.

Shortly after, he boarded the empty train looking for a suitable compartment so he would be able to see the boarding platform and watch all the other children arrive.

He wasn't disappointed when only but a few minutes later the first wave of students appeared.

The first children he saw consisted of first years for the most part. The majority of them were muggleborn, it seemed that in order to be sure that they weren't late; they came early to check around the enchanted platform.

Along with the muggleborn, the majority of the "purebloods" had arrived. Harry had summed up the majority of pureblood actions as an ingrained need to set an example for everyone else. While he didn't agree with some of the things pureblood families found traditional, he still believed that muggleborn children were just as good as pureblood children.

Magic was simply magic and there was no other way to describe it, either a child was magical or not. There was no stronger or weaker or in between, there was only magic to him.

Looking back to the crowd, all he could hear was the gentle murmurs becoming a staggering roar as more children boarded the platform over the course of the next two hours. Sitting in his same seat, Harry just looked out the window with a content expression as his face as he used Occulmency to organize what he was seeing.

He had begun learning Occulmency from professor Snape a few years earlier when his daily activities became constant and too much for him to remember all at once. Snape had recommended it was a way to organize his thoughts and not so much as an active defense for Legilimency. When he had learned about it being a defensive skill, he only saw that as an added bonus.

The crowd thickened and weaned, he could just pick out distinct conversations of the separate groups as they spewed on and on about what they expected from the oncoming year or about the boy-who-lived. Harry had known for a long time that he was somewhat of a celebrity in the wizarding world. However, he simply did not see the joy in being known for simply surviving a highly probably casting defect.

"Did you hear? The boy who defeated you-know-who is beginning his first year this term. If we're lucky, we can catch him before the ceremony and get to know him!" exclaimed a small red headed boy to his friend next to him.

Taking his head away from the window, Harry had decided that he had seen enough. Settling back into his compartment, he looked as the people began to pass his compartment one by one searching for their own seats.

Deciding to have his own fun, he shifted into his animagus form before heading out of his compartment into the hallway looking for something to do or someone to meet.

Spying a girl by herself in the far back, he prowled towards her as his curiosity peaked.

* * *

Daphne Greengrass was a simple woman. Her mother had tried to love her and her father had attempted the same. While both her parents were the regular and up to par, this was only by pureblood standards, and pureblood standards weren't know to be the most nurturing.

Up until the age of 8, her grandmother had been the only person to acknowledge her and teach her things beyond the basics of life. She had been the first one to teach her that meeting people should be more than about the ways that you could find self-benefit off the person.

Her personality was often described as a mirror of her grandmothers and she was often proud of hearing that.

Only a few months before what was to be her first year at Hogwarts, her grandmother had passed away leaving her to her family and siblings.

While to the public this may not have been as tragic as it could have been, Daphne was devastated. She had slowly began slipping until she was nothing but a shell of her former personality.

She could often be seen sitting in her departed grandmother's room doing nothing but reading old journals and clutching pillows.

With school but a few months away, he parents had found it unnecessary to deal with the issue seeing as it would be the school's problem soon.

With all of that said, it leaves us at the present time.

Daphne had been dropped off at the station with her supplies, money, and directions to the station by a family house elf. Accustom to being tended to by house elves, she simply walked over to the station and boarded the train before locking herself in a compartment.

What she didn't notice was a small black kitten following her into said compartment.

It was to her surprise when she found the small bundle jumping into her lap that she finally noticed.

"Now where did you come from?" she murmured as she drew her fingers slowly through the glossy black fur.

While most children would be wary of a strange animal, pureblood were often around familiars and pets to the point where they had often overlooked all animals as wild but rather was tame beasts. It was no shock to her that the kitten she had in her lap was used to being around people.

Looking down to the purring kitten, she indulged herself with its company for a while longer before finally speaking up.

"We should probably find your owner," she commented as she kept petting.

Harry had no clue what he was doing before he followed the strange girl into the train compartment. All he knew was he was enjoying the feeling of her hands and that he had no other obligations so he honestly didn't care. Content with spending the rest of his time with the strange girl, he had begun to purr before falling into a deep meditative state.

It was to his surprise that the girl began to talk about finding his owner and such.

Now to a normal animal this wouldn't be a problem, but to Harry it was a trigger for panic. A combination of his animal instincts yelling fight or flight combined with his human need to find a way to avert the situation ended in him making a bolt for the door.

In surprise, Daphne suddenly cried, "Stop!" it was too late however as Harry had already made it out of the door.

At this point Daphne was in major confusion, while the kitten running away wasn't a major surprise, what had her confused was how the magically locked door managed to seemingly open by itself. She highly doubted that someone in the first year's cabin would be able to open it, and if they had, wouldn't she still be able to see them?

* * *

When Harry had finally managed to get out of site and find a secluded area or otherwise an empty wash closet, he changed back before transfiguring his clothes into a set of Hogwarts robes.

Unsure of what to do next, he figured he owed the girl an explanation. Thinking on his feet, he began walking back towards the locked compartment.

Stopping before the locked door, he could feel the soft yellow aura coming from the handle indicating that there was a low level locking charm on it. Giving a soft wave of his hand, the lock clicked into place and the door slid open without a sound.

"Hey, I think you found my cat?" asked Harry, startling the girl from her thoughts as she looked up towards him, "I found him running back to me and realized that he was with someone else and I figured I should go say hello".

"The door was locked," she said as if stating a fact.

"Was it? I didn't notice," replied Harry, unsure of how to respond. While he didn't care to hide his magical talents, he hadn't ever felt a need to explain or broadcast his abilities. In his opinion, he did what he did and it shouldn't have ever mattered to anyone else.

"Anyways, my name is Harry and it's a pleasure to meet you," said Harry, quickly changing the subject.

While this didn't go unnoticed by Daphne, she let it slide and replied, "Daphne, Daphne Greengrass, and I can _almost_ say likewise".

Noticing his uneasiness, she kept going, "Where's your cat?"

At this point Harry wasn't sure what to do, while he had met a few people around his age while in Diagon alley, none of them had been this hard to talk to. This was a new experience to him and frankly he was very interested.

"Oh he's around, he comes and goes and does his own thing," replied Harry switching into a carefree tone he used often while dueling.

"Any reason you locked the door in the first place?" continued Harry.

After a pregnant pause she replied briefly, "I don't like crowds," and then the compartment went silent once again.

With almost a year of constant practice, Harry was unable to keep from analyzing her as he would his opponents while dueling.

She held a rigid pose which indicated that she was not exactly warm and friendly to him at the moment. Her words were short and brief which told him that either she was uncomfortable with talking to him or she was simply a quiet person. Her posture was incredibly straight which screamed absolute pureblood to him if the name didn't already give it away.

In the middle of his musing, a group of students suddenly barged through the door making Harry regret not replacing the locking charms.

"We heard Harry Potter was on the train, have you seen him?" asked a red haired freckled boy.

At this statement, Daphne raised an eyebrow. Seeing the movement, Harry quickly replied to the boy, "No I don't believe I have seen him, I reckon if he is on the train though, he'd be up with the prefects in their compartment up near the front of the train."

Thanking him, the group left before closing the door. At this point Harry gave a small gesture and re-applied the locking charms.

"Wandless magic isn't exactly on the curriculum," started the ever pleasantly cold girl sitting across from him.

"No, I suppose it isn't."

"Why didn't you tell him the truth?"

"Why not?" replied Harry in a matter-of-fact tone, "If I wanted screaming fanboys and fangirls constantly bombarding me, I may as well march up and down the aisles telling unbelievable stories just to inflate their image of me even more."

This had Daphne thrown back, while she never had any interest in Harry Potter, she had heard of the name. What she had expected though was an overly narcissistic and overinflated boy that couldn't even hold his wand straight. Seeing him casting wandless spells and misdirecting his fans was something she didn't expect.

"You're an odd one," she finally said.

"I'm glad you noticed; I don't suppose you mind If I spent the rest of my time here would you?" before she got a chance to reply, he cut her off with a cheesy smile before saying, "Oh thank you, I didn't think you'd mind very much but I still felt the need to ask."

This irked her greatly as she set his mouth in a flat line and crossed her arms before staring him down with smoldering eyes.

Seeing her actions, he gave a brief chuckle, "You're quiet cute when you're frustrated."

Her mouth dropped as her face flushed, "If your wit wasn't getting the better of me, I'd assume you were positively insane," she retorted before looking away out the window childishly.

Seeing her drop her guard, even if only just a bit; he gave a smile. "You're quite the interesting person Daphne; I believe it's going to be a fun year knowing you."

At this point, looking for anything else to change the subject, she finally noticed his luggage, or whereas lack of luggage. "If you're staying here for the duration of the train ride, where is your luggage?"

"Oh it's around, it comes and goes and does its own thing," he replied with a smirk.

"I'm beginning to think you don't own a cat," she replied slowly. In her head everything was a rush as she suddenly began coming to rapid and bizarre conclusions. A mystery person comes in claiming to be the famous Harry potter which should have been a first year begins casting spells wandlessly while supposedly claiming to be a student also without luggage and without 'his' cat.

Thinking back to what he father had once told her about purebloods, she quickly began jumping to her more extreme thoughts.

"I don't know who you are, but if you make any sudden movements I will scream and everyone on the train will hear me," she said slowly and made sure to enunciate every word.

Suddenly confused, he asked, "Is there a problem? We were having such a nice conversation."

"You're obviously not Harry Potter, the real Harry Potter is a first year and shouldn't be able to cast spells wandlessly and defiantly not without an incantation, the locking charm your put on the door was far more advanced than the ones I'm used to seeing and your lack of luggage is making it quite obvious that you're not exactly a student at Hogwarts.

Listening to her rationalize her observations of him, he gave a bellowing laugh. "Hahahahaha," he cried out holding him stomach.

"Listen darling, would you believe me if I handed you my apparition license?" he managed to get out while wiping tears away from his eyes.

"You're obviously not 17 unless you're under a glamour charm so it's hard to imagine that you have one."

Not caring about what she was saying at the moment, he reached into him back right pocket and fished out the plastic enchanted card.

Handing it Daphne, she looked down and saw his smiling face waving in the photograph.

_Harry James Potter, apprentice to __Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. _

_Age: 11 _

_Eyes: Green _

_Hair color: Black _

"Being an apprentice has its advantages," he commented as he saw her gaze almost to the bottom of the card.

Realizing that he was apprentice to one of the top wizards in the world at the age of 11, she suddenly came to a different conclusion, "You're a lot more advanced than your regular first year."

"Bingo! Give the woman a prize," he replied heartily.

Completely dumbstruck, she wasn't sure what to say. "Why are you attending Hogwarts when you could obviously be tutored by renowned wizards all over the world?"

"Where's the fun in that?" he retorted sharply, "While I could do that, it would mean I would never get to enjoy Hogsmeade the same way everyone else does, it would mean I would hardly know anyone my own age with the exception of any other prodigies I happen to meet, and it would mean I wouldn't have gotten to meet you," finishing his rant with a poke to her nose.

Slapping his hand away, she gave a small smile. "Now what makes me so special?"

"Why darling, that's for me to know, and for you to find out," he said, giving her a wink.

"Why are you calling me darling?" she asked quickly as she flushed.

"My grandpa told me to call people I like 'darling' so I decided to try it, why? Do you not like it?" asked Harry while tilting his head slightly to the left giving him a curious look.

"No, I don't hate it… but it's different," she replied slowly as if she was thinking at the same time she was talking.

"Then there's no problem!" he said with a smile, "Now if I do believe I'm correct, we should be arriving in a few minutes and you have yet to put on your robes."

Looking out the window, she noticed the town coming up.

"Well?" she asked.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to get out so I can change?"

"Now why would I do that? I'm far too lazy to get up," stretching out into a laying position on the seat as he finished.

She huffed before deciding to change in front of him seeing as his eyes were closed. While her parents had always insisted she was only allowed to take clothing off in front of females, she herself had no problems with it.

Halfway done, she heard Harry give a small murmur, "Strawberry undies? How cute,"

She turned quickly seeing Harry suddenly propped up on an elbow looking at her.

Quickly rushing, she threw on the mandatory black robes before looking for the nearest thing to throw at the smirking boy.

"Whoa now, slow down, wouldn't want to get your panties into a knot… regardless of how cute they are," he said with a laugh.

"Usually boys aren't supposed to look when girls are changing," said Daphne in a matter-of-fact voice as she sat down with a pink blush tinting her cheeks.

While she had no problems with modesty while around her family, it was alien to her to be around men outside her family in that state. She was no stranger to 'grown up' things, but she also knew that at her age she wouldn't have to worry about anything.

"My grandpa said the same thing, but I honestly don't see a problem with it," replied Harry. "It's just like swimming clothes right? So what's the difference?" he said as he fell back off his elbow and back onto the seat as he laid back and closed his eyes.

Thinking for a moment, she agreed with his logic and saw no reason to convince him otherwise.

The trip was quiet for a few more moments before Daphne suddenly seemed to have an outburst.

"Wait! When did you change into those robes? Those weren't the ones you walked in with!" she said in an escalated voice as she jumped off her seat.

"Oh, you mean this?" he said as he gave his hand a flourish over the clothing, changing it as it went along.

Transfiguration had always been one of his favorite subjects along with Charms, having a mother figure that constantly doted and made sure he knew almost everything there was on the subject was also helpful to have.

Picking her jaw off the floor, she asked, "Wait, why didn't you just transfigure my robes for me then, instead of making me have to change?"

"No matter what you think about me, I don't have a tendency to change other people's clothes at the random," he replied as if commenting on the weather.

Pink was quite evident on her face as she flushed from embarrassment, "Oh," was all she managed to say before sitting back down.

The conductor's loud booming voice cut into the awkward silence, "We've arrived in Hogsmeade! Please be sure to get your entire luggage and we on behalf of the Hogwarts express hope you enjoyed your trip!"

"I do believe this is our stop," said Harry, as he offered her his hand.

Taking his hand as she got up, she gave a polite thank you before reaching for her luggage. "Allow me, mi'lady," said Harry attempting to impersonate a English noble accent, before gesturing to the now levitating luggage as it bounced ever so slightly as it followed the girl along.

Giggling gently, she curtsied before thanking him and reached out with her hand, taking it gently, he gave it a small kiss before opening the door to the compartment and gestured for her to leave first.

"This is going to be fun year," he said, just loud enough for her to hear as she felt his breath on her neck. Blushing all the way to her neckline, she continued to depart from the train, shaking her head all the way.

* * *

A/N

So... let's start with the obvious...

I write this story not as a project, but as something to do when I hit the refresh button on my Harry potter fanfiction search and realized that 90% of the stories involve some sort of slash.

I'm not against gays/lesbians, I just prefer to avoid them/it when possible

Second off, I believe my grammar is atrocious, if anyone would be willing to beta read, please drop a message in the review box with a skype and possible times when you're online.

Now to approach the topic of the actual story:

I'd kill myself if I had to write the dialogue in broken English similar to what an actual 11 year old would say, so I put the maturity level a little higher.

Someone mentioned I was rushing the first few chapters, this is the reason.

Also at the age of 11, modesty wasn't high up on my list, I can still recall playing "Doctor" when I was that young and it wasn't... sexual? not sure how to put it.

Oh, and just because the characters on the story say Harry and Fluer, it doesn't mean that I won't develop other characters thoroughly.

**On a final note: **If you haven't read the emerald coven, swing by and make sure to read it, it's under Harry/Gabrielle and it's very well written and deserves more reviews in my opinion, be sure to tell him I sent you his way if you do review though =0

Peace,

-The Purple Critic


End file.
